Police in New York City arrested about 20 people on Thursday after anti-Israel protesters tried to stop the 98th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Protesters interrupted the parade by jumping in front of the Ronald McDonald balloon, stopping it before police in the area converged on and arrested them, according to the New York Post. The protest, booed loudly by onlookers, marked the second consecutive year anti-Israel demonstrators have obstructed the parade route.
Videos of the protest circulating on social media showed protesters lined across the street with a banner that said “Don’t celebrate genocide” and called for an arms embargo against the Jewish state. The protesters can be heard shouting “free, free Palestine.”
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Parade watchers can be heard chanting “U.S.A.” The crowd can be heard cheering as police moved in to arrest the demonstrators.
Cops quickly swarmed in to make mass arrests when anti-Israel protesters tried to ruin the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade again. pic.twitter.com/1VCzxxD0L1
— New York Post (@nypost) November 28, 2024
🚨New: Free Palestine protesters tried to shut down the Macy’s NYC Thanksgiving Parade
pic.twitter.com/ttU0IPANoD— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) November 28, 2024
The disruption delayed the parade for about five minutes, according to ABC 7. Formal charges against the protesters arrested are still pending.
New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams warned against protesting the parade on Wednesday.
“I really want to take the moment to tell those grinches that believe they are going to disrupt the parade that it is not going to happen,” Adams said. “Just like how we responded last year, we are going to be on top of those who attempt to interrupt the parade in any way possible.”
Last year, a group of protesters were arrested at the Macy’s parade after they jumped over barricades and glued their hands to asphalt in the middle of the parade route.
Protests against Israel picked up after October 7, 2023, when the terror group Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking hundreds more captive. About 100 captives are still believed to be held by Hamas.
Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza and has since faced pressure and attacks from numerous terror groups in the region, as well as from Iran, the world’s leading state-sponsor of terror.
